15 or 10 amp switch at caravan parks

simple answer yes they do

Take both

15 amp power outlet are mandatory in caravan parks.

Some people carry a short 10amp to 15amp extension lead, others change the 15 amp plug-top to 10amp; which what I have done.

Cheers
Racey

Lets be unequivocal, the only legal and safe answer is: YOU MUST HAVE A 15 amp rated extension cord with 15 amp male plug and 15 amp female socket. No alternatives would be legal or safe! People can day and do what they like but I wouldn't be advising anyone about filing down the earth pin or replacing the male plug for a 10 amp version.

WBS

What you carry is your 15 AMP lead for Caravan Parks and a Lead with a 10 amp PLUG on one end and 15 amp socket on the other and call it your RELATIVES LEAD.

Wow... how many times has this question arisen with the same old "put a 15A plug on one end" and "illegal, get an amphibian at $$$" responces - has some-one read the relevant Friday Funny today???

Bottom line is, while it is ILLEGAL to have a 15 amp plug on one end, NO-ONE can show its unsafe to put a 10A socket on a 15A lead!!!

Some will trot out that the earth pin is bigger on a 15A plug, so what - the active and neutral are the same as a 10A!

Some will trot out that the load can draw 15 amps, yet the supply is only 10A, so what - the supply circuit breaker will trip if you draw to much load (you should never be relying on the load for protection, thats why the supply has protection!)

Yes, an Amphibian will make it legal, but will not add any pratical improvement to safety. Your van should already have a breaker and RCD so the Ampbian is simply a double up.

If this was the ONLY regulation / Law / Rule that 4WDer's and Campers were breaking on a regular "common sense" basis then perhaps we should all own Amphibians. But perhaps people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones?

OK, ready for the flak now :)

Cheers

Captain

PS. Disclaimer - I am not recommeding

In response to all those suggesting illegal setups, if there was to be a fire and somebody was killed there, there will be an inquiry and questions will be aksed.

We don't want any more camping tragedies to occur because somebody is cutting corners. Not that I am suggesting that that was the cause of the recent camping explosion.

my 2c

Hi John

As all caravans for quite some years have been manufactured with 15 amp connections, i can't imagine finding a caravan park with only 10 amp outlets. If you have a specific farm stay in mind and are concerned, phone ahead and ask. If they don't supply a 15 amp outlet, tell them unless they do you cannot stay (unless you are OK without power for a short stay). Having a small farm, we have 15 amp and larger outlets for our purposes at both house and sheds, so i don't think you would have a problem. Even when renting houses, we always had a 15 amp outlet for power tools fitted with its own circuit, at our expense. If you stay at a friend's house and they don't, you may only really need power for a fridge so take the fridge into the house (if it is portable).

Motherhen

If a 15 amp socket is not available at a farm stay or friends house spend the $150 on an ampfibian or as a last resort use a 10 amp extension cord and do not plug it into the van but plug the individual appliance into the cord, (only 1 appliance) as they individually are usually 10 amp plugs. This way you can run your fridge to stay cold, if and only if it has a 10 amp plug inside the van where it is plugged in( most dometic fridges have 10 amp plugs). Do not use for other appliances on the same cord.

I repeat do not plug the 10 amp cord into the van recepticle.

Another point to ponder is that you may only have a solid single extension cord between the park and the van. NO JOINS.

Fellas an Ampfibian is a device.

Devise is a way of figuring a way around it

Also the power point in the CT must be a DOUBLE POLE unit, not just a household socket...

Wow - thanks to all who responded.

There are obviously a number of preferences / thoughts how to deal with this.

I'm as happy as the next person to DIY my own solution but that is generally with water or wood, nothing dangerous such as gas or electricity.

I'm travelling with 4 kids and in our practice runs we had a 10 amp extension cable laying in the CT with a powerboard. I only twigged afterwards that a spilled drink on the powerboard could have been disasterous. Hence the desire to wire up the CT with a safety switch.

I think I will buy a 15amp extension and use that when we are at a powered site. If we do stay somewhere that does not provide 15 amp power, I will run off the SinWave Converter (with built in fuses) IF we do need power.

We are trying to find the right balance between losing the gadgets / items that require power while we travel and also having ability to keep in touch and have the odd comfort (laptop with TV tuner for a rainy day)

In the end, if we can't power something up for a few days then we'll learn to live with it.

Cheers

John

Poor John, the Original Poster. He asks a simple question......"Do most / all caravan sites support 15 amp plugs?" and got a succinct and correct first-reply from Snapper49...."simple answer yes they do".

Then a whole lot of confusing advice and argument regarding the use of non-approved electrical adaptations.
It happens every time that a 240v wiring subject arises. There can be only ONE answer to mains electrical matters...... "Follow the law and Wiring Rules at all times". Any other advice or description of un-approved arrangements is both inappropriate and irresponsible, more especially so if coming from someone who purports to be a qualified electrician. It is quite possible that such advice could result in injury or death of someone following such advice.

By all means tell everyone how your HiClone has halved your fuel consumption but keep your wacky 240v ideas to yourself. I am beginning to believe that this forum needs another Moderation category......."Unqualified 240 Volt Expression".

So then, I guess to peeps wouldn't be happy with what we need to do at work with our 115V supplies.
Our 115V supplies have 20A wall sockets, so we put 115V 20A plugs onto extension cords (cutting off the aussie 3 pin 10A plug), and onto power boards in the same manner, as a means of plugging in our laptop chargers, mobile phone chargers and other multi 110-230V electronic devices.
Cheers,
Dion.

So I have a generator that has a 10amp outlet and my caravan has a 15amp inlet. Most other generators also have a 10amp outlet. This means that most people who run their caravans off a generator are breaking the law?????
Secondly, why can I physically plug a 10amp into a 15amp socket? Surely this is a design fault overlooked by our lords and masters

What a fine state of affairs this has turned into!
Commonsense should be used. Too much knowledge ,like too little knowledge can be equally as dangerous.

cheers

The greatest danger of 240 Volt electrical matters........ is raising the topic on this forum! LOL lol

Sorry Outback123 but the cemetaries are full of people who knew too much! Fact not fiction. 57 follow ups for 15amp connector...get over it.

Just finished reading a great Mafiosa book . The hundreds of people whom they killed because they knew too much about the cartels operations is just one example. Over to you now mate cause I know your itching to have the final say.

The basic answer to the OP question is yes you need a 15 amp extension cord.
It is the ONLY legal thing to use.

It must be ONE cord between you and the park supply.

NO JOINS.

At places with only 10 amp plugs an Ampfibian is the ONLY LEGAL connector.

All mobile installations such as your electrician did, need DOUBLE POLE sockets.

Check he did put one in as while he may be a good sparky doesnt mean he is up on Caravan installations.


Why do these threads always develop into what this one has.

Why do people advocate illegal installations that could lead to an unsuspecting users DEATH.

If you want to use one, thats fine but dont advocate its use on a public forum.

Moderators should stop this sort of thing..

Too many peeps get caught up in that thinking as soon as AS is mentioned, there is no deviation from that.
Wrong, an AS is only a guide, sort of like saying 'best practise'. An AS can't stand up on it's own, on it's own it's useless.
Something can only be enforced by 'Act' of parliment or a regulation.

Something that clearly illustrates this, there is an AS(ADR) that says something along the lines of vehicle speedometers can have a +/-10% accuracy. Now it's a well known fact that in the state to be in, this is totoally ignored and even at 104km/h, you get pinged because in the state to be in, by act of parliment, the tolerence is no greater than 3km/h.

AS3000 on it's own is meaningless, the Juristiction you are in may have acts and regulations that then give AS3000 an enforceable status.

Cheers,
Dion.

run a 10A plug top on the 15A lead for the van. Have done for 30 years. Never draw 10A and saves using a cheat lead when so many sockets in country areas are 10A only.
nobody cares nobody checks and common sense prevails. Walk around a van park and check the leads and 1/2 will be 10A plug tops.

if you cannot legally join a lead what all of a sudden makes an amphibian legal. Find it hard to believe people are suckered into buying them.

Well John ( he is the one who asked the original question in case people had lost track ) I bet you now wish you had never asked !!

Brett

This threat certainly has been provided me with the answer to my question and also a lot of extra information.

Thanks to all who responded and took an interest.

I must say that I have been impressed with the civil discussion even if some have been passionate to say the least.

This is an excellent forum and has provided us with much information over the last 6 months getting ready for our trip.

Hopefully as we learn more we will be able to contribute to others on this forum.

See you on the road (8 days to go)

Cheers

John

Don't get too carried away with the righteousness of Australian Standards. Standards are determined by a "Standard's Committee"; this committee comprises, mainly, people from the major companies which the standard affects - many of the committee's decisions and "Interpretation Rulings" are decided simply on the basis of what is most commercially advantageous for the companies involved.

Two years ago I was acting as a technical consultant for a major Australian Standards test house which deals purely with the testing of electrical/electronic equipment intended to protect the public against an event which, when it occurs, usually causes significant loss of life. I discovered that for many years the test house had failed, through oversight, to implement a technical but important aspect of the standard. I raised this matter formally and required the rule be applied henceforth. Unfortunately this meant a number of products which had previously passed now failed when subject to retesting. The manufacturers did not like this.

It was later revealed to me that a few of the manufacturers got together, on the quiet, and decided to request an "Interpretation" of the clause from the Standard's Committee. As these companies were well represented on the committee the outcome was a foregone conclusion - the decision from the committee was that the clause actually meant something else entirely - it was a ten word clause and incapable of another interpretation. However because Standard's Committee Interpretations are not formally published and distributed and are not required to ever be added to the standard this was simply a fit-up to allow existing product to flout the standard.

By the way; despite the fact than conformance to many standards is a legal obligation the publication and distribution of Australian Standards is handled by a commercial profit making company (SAI Global) not by the government and if you want a copy of a standard you are obliged to buy it at a commercial rate and you'll find the Standard much lauded in this thread, AS3000, costs $131 in PDF form. And I always thought access to legislation was supposed to be free? (And before someone mentions libraries - check it out first).

So I suggest you don't put Australian Standards up on high as if they were the word of God because, frequently, they are the word of vested interests.

Hasnt this thread got so far off topic its worthless to the OP

Time to move on to something else and stop the he said she said nonsense.

The question was answered in the first reply and as in all these 240v threads we have a bun fight.

Totally unecessary really

Stick to the question with a qualifying statement and leave it at that.